Leadership and Educational Politics

Abstract

Educational politics shape educational leaders and their work. Conversely, educational leaders are political actors who shape educational politics and policy. Central to educational politics is conflict for scarce resources and influence. In the context of educational administration and organizations, control over others is at the core of power. There are multiple sources of power in organizations, including reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power, and expert power. Scholars also have classified power as formal or informal; personal or professional. Regardless of its source, there are potential problems and pitfalls with the use of power by educational leaders. An over-reliance of one source of power may come at the expense of another. Adding to this complexity of politics that educational leaders must contend with is the wide array of educational issues and political actors seeking to shape education politics and policy. As well as educational leaders, other actors include teachers, school boards, voters, businesses, community organizations, teacher unions, institutions of higher learning, professional organizations, non-governmental agencies, and non-profits. In addition to the wide-ranging number of political issues and political actors, there is also a wide array of policy levels, ranging from the federal level, the state/provincial level, the district level, and the school level. In seeking to improve our knowledge and practice, scholars and practitioners categorize educational politics as micropolitical or macropolitical in nature. Both share similar concepts, including the pursuit of power, formal arenas, informal arenas, influence, control, conflict, cooperation, strategies, exchange, negotiation, interest groups, values, and ideologies. Educational leadership preparation programs seek to prepare aspiring leaders for the inevitable presence of politics in schools and practice.